For then was the Muse not yet a lover of gain, nor a hireling was she. + 

Nor then honey-throated Terpsichore sold the melting melody + 

Of her lays, nor with faces silver-masked did they tread the stage. + 

But now she biddeth us heed the word of the Argive sage + 

Which cometh all too near to the truth in this our age: + 